FeministsSA takes a critical look at political parties

Next year is an election year, and what better way to decide on how to vote than to see what parties are doing for women and women’s rights. Over the next few weeks FeministsSA will be taking a closer look at some of the big and new political parties to help you assess what might be the best option. We looked at the results of the last national election and noted the top parties which were:

i) ANC – 65.9%

ii) DA – 16.66%

iii) COPE – 7.42%

iv) IFP – 4.55%

v) ID – 0.92%

vi) UDM – 0.85%

vii) FF+ – 0.83%

vii ) ACDP – 0.81%

In addition, we’ll be looking at the two newbies – Agang and the EFF.

This is not an exhaustive analysis of South Africa’s political contenders for the 2014 elections. Rather, it is an overview of some of the key features of these parties as a means of interrogating their commitments to women’s rights, within the broader framework of human rights and democratic freedoms.